A SUPERB 17-BORE TWO-SHOT SUPERIMPOSED-LOAD SILVER-MOUNTED FLINTLOCK SPORTING GUN FROM THE PERSONAL ARMOURY OF TIPU SULTAN, 'THE TIGER OF MYSORE', BY ASAD KHAN-E MUHAMMAD, SERINGAPATAM, DATED THE MAWLUDI YEAR 1222 (1793-94)

with blued barrel decorated with silver koftgari bubris in a close-set regular pattern over its full length ahead of the breech, fitted with silver fore-sight cast as a tiger in high relief and enclosed, as if wading, within a pool of gold concentric rings, with three parts of a quatrain inscribed in gold along the short top flat, two-stage octagonal breech formed with an additional chamber for the superimposed charge and the pan incorporating a rotary tap-action chamber for the sequential priming and ignition of successive charges, finely inlaid with small panels of gold-flowering silver foliage together with strips of stylised bubri ornaments framing both the inlaid fourth line of the quatrain and the royal Sun device of Tipu Sultan, struck with a gold-lined 'Haydar' control mark, and inlaid at the base with a band of three gold cartouches filled with the maker's signature, the place and date of manufacture, and a 'Haydar' talismanic square, with decorated breech tang inscribed with the silver magic numbers '313', partially enclosed lock signed and inscribed with the place of manufacture in gold characters beneath the pan, struck with gold-filled 'Haydar' control mark, the entire rear half finely chiselled in relief as a seated tiger, the jaws of the cock forming the tiger's head, heightened with silver bubris throughout, the eyes and subsidiary detail inlaid in gold, inscribed with both the date and a 'Haydar' talismanic square in gold on the haunches, fitted with safety-catch chiselled in the form of a miniature tiger moving on the back of the principal subject, and the back face of the steel (pan-cover) inlaid with further small silver bubris enclosing a single bubri relief, figured hardwood full stock carved with palmette mouldings in low relief about the breech tang and the trigger-guard, the butt finely carved in the form of a crouching tiger, in high relief, partially in the round, cut with a contrasting pattern of black-stained bubris inset with shaped silver wire, and inlaid with brass eyes, with full silver mounts cast in low relief, comprising butt-plate decorated with bubri ornament along the sides and with a pair of Royal Muslim tigers devouring the Hindu double-eagle of Mysore (the emblem of the deposed House of Wadeyar), large side-plate pierced with the allegorical scene of warriors killed by tigers (a further reference to the fall of Wadeyar), the trigger-guard and escutcheon each decorated in continuation of the theme, with two short ramrod-pipes, the third cast with a tiger mask, silver fore-end cap, original iron sling-swivels and ramrod, and in fine condition throughout

PROVENANCE

Presented to Lord Cornwallis following the fall of Seringapatam in 1799
Thence to the Earls of Pembroke at Wilton House

EXHIBITED

The Indian Heritage, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1982, cat. no.464, p.139

Tigers Round the Throne, The Court of the Tipu Sultan (1750-1799), Zamana Gallery, London, 1990, pp.58-59

The Tiger and the Thistle: Tipu Sultan and the Scots in India 1760-1800, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1999, cat. no. 53, Pl. 39 (A. Buddle, P. Rohatgi and I.G. Brown)

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Robin Wigington, op. cit., 1992, TR10, pp.67-73

CATALOGUE NOTE

inscriptions
On the barrel:
tofang-e bi-nazir-e khosraw-e hend
ke bashad barq-e suzan thani-ye u
tavanad sar-nevesht-e khasm bar-dasht
hadaf gardad agar pishani-ye u
"The peerless gun of the Emperor of India
To which the forked lightning is second
Can seal the fate of the enemy
If [the enemy's] forehead is made the target".
Place of manufacture Patan, and the maker's name Asad Khan-e Muhammad 'Asad Khan [son of] Muhammad'.
Dated in the Mawludi year 1222/1793-4.
The talismanic square with the letters H/Y/D/R for 'Haydar'.
The control mark 'Haydar' in gold.
On the tang: the magic number 313 which represents a curse tin terah (three thirteen) meaning destroyed, ruined.
On the lock: place of manufacture Patan, and the maker's name Asad Khan-e Muhammad 'Asad Khan [son of] Muhammad'
Dated in the Mawludi year 1222/1793-94.
The talismanic square with the letters H/Y/D/R for 'Haydar'.
The control mark 'Haydar' in gold.

This gun is considered to be among Tipu Sultan's finest and the most strikingly iconic.